This invention provides a method that can automatically display indicators in real time showing the direction and distance to an off-screen target. It is designed as a way for an operator of any platform equipped with a motion video sensor to be able to maintain situational awareness. The operator may allow the method to detect targets automatically, or may select targets manually. The method then computes the location of the target relative to the video field of view and displays the information on screen. This allows the camera operator to easily reorient the camera toward the off-screen targets with minimal cognitive burden. The same information used to display the target locations could also be translated into a signal for motors which could automatically orient the camera to the off-screen target.
It can be especially difficult to maintain orientation with respect to a target object while operating a camera attached to a moving platform. This invention addresses lowering the cognitive burden required to point the camera at previously spotted target objects or previously known geographic coordinates. When scanning a scene with a camera, it can be difficult to determine which way the camera needs to be panned to go back towards the object once the target object leaves the camera's field of view.
Current methods employed in the field include displaying the camera platform heading on the video screen. While this can help keep the operator oriented, this method requires the operator to remember the bearings to the target objects the operator is monitoring and estimate for himself the motion of the object while outside the field of view. By contrast, the present invention addresses these shortcomings by tracking target object locations, updating them based on a predictive dynamical model, and automatically displays a target indicator showing where the camera needs to turn in order to point towards the target object.
In a different field, video games have used a similar indicator to display the location of objects within the video game environment but outside of the user's field of view that the user is trying to find. In contrast to the present invention however, the video game programmer is able to directly compute the locations of the targets relative to the field of view because all of the object locations in a video game environment are precisely known to the programmer. Unlike the method used by video games, this invention does not need to know the precise location of the target objects and uses instead a dynamical model to predict the target object location relative to the video camera field of view.